1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the processing of video data, and, in particular, to providing for video encoding format compatibility.
2. Description of the Related Art
This invention relates to signal processing which is often used to encode data signals into an encoded bitstream and to decode such encoded bitstream to reconstruct the original data signals. Such encoded data signals are often video image signals representative of video pictures. Video pictures may be still images or may be part of a plurality of successive pictures of video signal data that represent a motion video. As used herein, "picture" and "video picture" may interchangeably refer to signals representative of an image as hereinabove described.
Video formats are typically utilized to standardize ways of encoding video data. In general, video data which is at the pixel level is encoded in accordance with a particular video format that specifies the manner of encoding the video data. Such encoding may include compressing the video data or other types of encoding. Encoded video data is encoded at a high-level format and may thus be referred to herein as high-level video data. Video data at the pixel or bitmap level is in a format suitable for display on a monitor or for other data processing, and may be considered to be in a relatively low-level format in comparison to the relatively high-level format at which the data is typically encoded. Video data in its high-level, encoded format requires less storage and communications bandwidth, but is not directly usable for processing or display, and is thus decoded before displaying the data.
Different video formats are used to represent images in computer-based image processing systems. For example, one such standard is the H.261 video standard (International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Recommendation H.261 ; (March 93), "Video codec for audiovisual services at p.times.64 kbits"). Often all the various elements or nodes of a network of interconnected computers operate in a compatible video format such as H.261. However, there may be multiple video formats, which are incompatible with each other. Thus, for a computer configured to process (i.e., decode and encode) video data in one video format, it is unable to process video data encoded in accordance with a second format.
There is, therefore, a need for methods and apparatuses that address problems arising from incompabilities in high-level video encoding formats.